This is the tale that began in 2006 in my first year of beekeeping in Atlanta, GA. ...there's still so much to learn.

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I've been keeping this blog for all of my beekeeping years and I began my 12th year of beekeeping in April 2017. Now there are almost 1300posts on this blog. Please use the search bar below to search the blog for other posts on a subject in which you are interested. You can also click on the "label" at the end of a post and all posts with that label will show up. At the very bottom of this page is a list of all the labels I've used.

Even if you find one post on the subject, I've posted a lot on basic beekeeping skills like installing bees, harvesting honey, inspecting the hive, etc. so be sure to search for more once you've found a topic of interest to you. And watch the useful videos and slide showson the sidebar. All of them have captions. Please share posts of interest via Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

I began this blog to chronicle my beekeeping experiences. I have read lots of beekeeping books, but nothing takes the place of either hands-on experience with an experienced beekeeper or good pictures of the process. I want people to have a clearer picture of what to expect in their beekeeping so I post pictures and write about my beekeeping saga here. Along the way, I've passed a number of certification levels and am now a Master Beekeeper Enjoy with me as I learn and grow as a beekeeper.

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Monday, October 27, 2008

Off Topic Moment: I finished the 3 Day

I took time away from the bees this weekend to walk the Atlanta Breast Cancer 3 Day. We walked 60 miles in three days to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Foundation for Breast Cancer. There were 3000 walkers on the Atlanta walk.

The Atlanta walk raised $8.3 million - can you believe it! Of that, 15% goes to pay for the walk events and the rest to the National Philanthropic Trust and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The walk was an unbelievable experience. It was a combination of endurance and an adventure in many forms. The cold, wet rain for the first 24 hours was difficult. Lisa, my walking partner, lent me a thicker poncho than the one I had, which made all the difference. We were still cold and wet all day and the wet feet resulted in hot spots and later blisters that plagued me for the rest of the walk. I had trained well, so I didn't find the amount of walking difficult until Day 3. I didn't do any cross training - which I really regretted - because I had pain between my shoulder blades for the last two days from carrying the fanny pack, I guess.

Our spirits were lifted at every corner and at frequent intervals by the crew, all of whom dressed up in completely outrageous costumes. They reminded me of Atlanta's Seed and Feed Marching Band. I saw more wild bras than I have ever seen in my life - all worn outside the shirt! There were loud boom boxes playing from the motorcycles that the street "cops" drove (there were real cops too, but the crew were the best - they danced us across each street). Vans decorated for the occasion drove up and down the course with riders yelling encouragement through speakers. Spectators showed up in high spirits as well - dressed up and carrying posters - my favorite was one that said "Save Second Base!"

The pit stops, the lunch breaks and all the meals had themes. Our favorite pit stop was "The Fifties," playing rock and roll music and fully equipped with hula hoops! Our favorite dinner was Saturday night Mardi Bra - the crew was laugh-out-loud funny. All the people serving dinner wore exterior bras decorated with tassels and Mardi Gras beads.

Because it rained all day and all night on Friday, we slept the first night in an abandoned building. That sounds awful but it was a building that had housed some kind of technology business that had gone under so there were carpets on the floors and lights and warmth. They had marked the carpet with tape to designate each person's sleeping area, but it became a mass of sleeping bags and bodies in the middle of the night despite "fire lanes" marked on the floor as traffic areas. On Saturday we slept in a field of pink tents.

On both nights we took showers in 18 wheeler trucks - group showers like Japan - you got naked in public but unlike Japan, the showers did have individual curtained stalls!

The second two days were gorgeous. We were "OTP" (Outside the Perimeter, as it is known in Atlanta) for the first two days so Lisa and I, both of whom are "ITP" (Inside the Perimeter) people, were in foreign lands. We never knew exactly where we were...it just all looked like the woodsy suburbs. We did cross the Chattahoochee River several times and walked through the downtown area of Peachtree Corners. On Day Three, we walked into downtown Atlanta, so it was much more familiar and gave us a better sense of how much further we had to go. Heart Attack Hill toward Piedmont Hospital was broken up by a Pit Stop...which helped. The best treat of Day Three was that we had our lunch break in Piedmont Park, which is currently off limits to big events.

I am so happy to have been one of the 3000 Atlanta walkers and to have finished each step of the walk, despite a few minor obstacles. Thank you to all of my fabulous family and friends who supported me.

I'm limping around today, the result of blisters and a sore ankle, but it feels great to have walked every step of the Atlanta Three Day.

12 comments:

That is an accomplishment to be proud of for sure. I would love to participate in one of the cities some day. That would be considered an urban hike coupled with a labor of love. Great post. Hope your feet recover soon.

Hello! What a great blog! Do you live in the country? We have neighbors on both sides of us but we are considered rural? We would love to keep bees but worry about bothering are neighbors if they swarm. We speak to our one neighbor but the other keeps to their self.

Hi Linda - I have only just started reading your blog. I would love some day to have a few hives in my backyard in Stone Mountain. My sister, who lives in Pittsburg PA sent me your link.

I did the Avon 3 day walk in 2000. It rained the WHOLE TIME. I wimped out because due to the rain they put us up at a high school about 2 miles from my house. I did every centimeter of the whole walk but I did go home at night to sleep. It was the most amazing weekend of my life and for months afterwards I could not even talk about it without tearing up.

I would offer this: go to www.armyofwomen.com and register. There is no committment to register. You will only receive emails with research opportunities. We have seen that breast cancer research will not receive appropriate funding and we now have the opportunity to step in and take charge. This org needs one million women - those with bc, those who have survived, and those who are and have been healthy. Anyone can sign up to join this army!

Linda -I'm new to your blog but plan to check in often. So many similarities. My brother lives in Atlanta. My company (Sassy Scrubs) custom makes Nursing Scrubs and we have several Breast Cancer Awareness fabrics for our customers - when they are chosen we make a donation to the cause.

Plus, many years ago, we raised bees! One time, my husband (now an ex, for many reasons like the one following) brought the frames into the house to harvest the honey, along with the centrifuge. Smack dab in the middle of my kitchen. When he was done, I had a huge sticky, waxy mess, which he left for me to clean up. It only happened once, as you can imagine! Fun blog - thanks for sharing!

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Great Quote from Richard Taylor, beekeeper and writer

"There are a few rules of thumb that are useful guides. One is that when you are confronted with some problem in the apiary and you do not know what to do, then do nothing. Matters are seldom made worse by doing nothing and are often made much worse by inept intervention." --The How-To-Do-It book of Beekeeping, Richard Taylor

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